Trial By Badge
by musicalmonk17
Summary: Ash and Gary have challenged each other to beat eight brand new gyms before the other. Kan. & Joh. poke R
1. The Challenge

Disclaimer: I don't even want to own Pokemon, too much stress.

Chapter 1

The Challenge

Ash had just gotten home from his conquest of eight gyms in the Johto region. Brock had left to go check in at Pewter City, and Misty had gone to rechallenge her sisters in an all-out water tournament. Ash was sitting on the couch, eating popcorn with Pikachu, when there was a knock at the door. Ash got up to answer the door, and there stood his long time rival, Gary.

"Hey Ketchum!" Gary said with his usual arrogant attitude. "How's it hangin'?"

"Hi, Gary," Ash said. "I'm just relaxing at being home once again. I haven't seen mom in a while so I thought I'd stop by for a little while."

"Oh really? I thought you'd be trying to get on the first boat out of here," Gary said, flopping down where Ash was sitting and helping himself to popcorn.

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"You mean you don't know?" Gary said, leaning forward with a huge grin on his face. "Well, I shouldn't tell you but I will. There's this scientist who just discovered a collection of islands further south than Cianwood, and there's these eight gyms there that are supposed to have killer Pokemon. And the eight badge is rumored to never before been given to anyone. But, the catch is that you have to beat the other seven first. And, the coolest thing about it is that whoever owns the eighth badge gets some kind of special gift from the gym leader." Gary paused here to allow Ash to absorb all the information, then he went on. "Of course, I'm gonna win."

"Not if I can beat them first!" Ash said, Pikachu yelling in support.

"Fine, it's a challenge then. Whoever beats them first gets the other one for a slave for a week," Gary said finally.

"Done!" Ash yelled, grasping Gary's hand in a firm grip.

A/N: Little short, but I hope to make the others longer.


	2. Beginning the Journey

Disclaimer: I don't even want to own Pokemon, too much stress.

Chapter 2

Beginning the Journey

Ash grabbed his pokeballs, and headed for the door. "Wait," he said aloud. "I don't even know where that is."

"Where what is sweetie?" his mom said, coming downstairs from a nap. Her Mr. Mime followed quickly behind her with the broom.

"Gary just challenged me to defeat these eight gym leaders before he could, and I don't know where they are or what the islands are even called," Ash said, flopping on the couch in frustration.

"Oh, I know what you're talking about," his mother said, turning to a nearby table. "I got this letter for you in the mail about a day before you arrived. I completely forgot about it. Sorry hon'."

Ash took the letter, and with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder, read the letter.

_Dear Mr. Ash Ketchum,_

_I applaud your determination to be a Pokemon Master. My name is James, and I am the leader of the Sacred Heights Mountain Gym, of the newly approved Eden Islands. I would like to invite you to participate in our Sacred Mountain Championship Tournament. In order to compete you must complete the following requirements:_

_**Defeat the following Gym Leaders:**_

_-Suzie of the Nebla City Gym_

_-Grace of the Tai City Gym_

_Robert of the Glen City Gym_

_-Martin of the Nytok City Gym_

_-Ashley of the Drake City Gym_

_-Devin of the Elden City Gym_

_-Cassie of the Atlan City Gym_

_and myself, James of the Sacred Heights Gym._

_**Earn the following Gym Badges:**_

_Suzie's Sky Badge_

_Grace's Chi Badge_

_Robert's Meadow Badge_

_Martin's Mask Badge_

_Ashley's Solar Badge_

_Devin's Midnight Badge_

_Cassie's Ocean Badge_

_And my Neon Badge_

_**Defeat at least one other trainer and earn his/her Sacred Seal.**_

_We look forward to seeing you at the tournament. The winner will receive a very special prize, and will be crowned Sacred Heights Champion._

_Sincerely,_

_James, Leader of the Sacred Heights Gym_

Ash looked up from the letter, but looked back down when Pikachu pointed at the very bottom.

_P.S. The first available ferry from your hometown leaves at 3:00 on Monday, the first of August._

Ash looked up from the letter. He had ten minutes to get to the pier. "Mom," Ash yelled, grabbing Pikachu, his backpack, and his Pokebelt with balls, "I gotta run. I'll call you soon as I can."

His mom watched the door shut behind him. "I hope he doesn't get into trouble."

A/N: R&R. I had to detail all of this information for an anonymous reviewer. Here it is.


	3. Aboard the Good Ship Paradise

Disclaimer: I don't even want to own Pokemon, too much stress.

Chapter 3

Aboard the Good Ship Paradise

Ash rounded the corner of the rental boat shop, and saw the ship. It was beautiful, definitely a cruise liner. It was sparkling white, and in the form of a Lugia, moving off into the sunset. _Moving!_ Ash realized. He grabbed Pikachu and set off running for the boat again.

As he was reaching the dock, the sailors were just pulling up the gangplank. "Wait!" Ash yelled, waving his free arm like a maniac. "I'm Ash Ketchum, and I'm coming too!"

One of the sailors spotted him, and threw a pokeball toward him. "Go Machoke!" A flash of light later, a Machoke was standing at the end of the dock with his hands pressed together. "Give him a toss onto the ship Machoke!" the sailor yelled. Ash ran, jumped toward the Machoke, and the Machoke put his hands under Ash's foot and launched him high into the air. "Aaaah!" Ash yelled as he soared toward the boat. "Gotcha!" yelled the Machoke's trainer as he grabbed him and pulled him inside. "Machoke return," he said, pointing his pokeball at Machoke.

"You're very lucky that I was on departure duty today, Ash was it?" the sailor said. "I'm one of three people on this ship who carry Pokemon who aren't professional trainers. The captain and cook are the only other ones. My name's Tom by the way," he said, pulling Ash to his feet. "Now, would you be Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town?" Tom said, pulling a clipboard off the wall.

"Yeah, that's me," Ash said, not knowing what to expect. "Why?"

"This is for you," Tom said, pulling a necklace of some kind out of his pocket and handing it to Ash. It was a gold necklace with a star on the emblem. The star had a silver point in the center and blue, red, black, purple, and yellow outstretches from that point. "This is your Sacred Seal. You need to make sure you look out for this. You have to have at least two of these to enter the finals, and that's after you get the other eight badges. Now, I don't want to keep you here. The party's upstairs, and it's all you can eat for free. At six there'll be a meeting to discuss the full tournament rules, and you can ask any questions there. I'll see you around Ash."

Ash was dumbfounded on how anyone could talk as fast as Tom just had without taking a breath. But, then again, working on a ship will give you that kind of strength. Pikachu walking at his heels, Ash walked up to the party. When he entered he was amazed at how many trainers there. He got himself a plate, and sat down to see if he knew any of them. It was easy to find Gary. He was sitting in the corner with a bunch of other trainers bragging about how fast he was going to beat the first trainer and gym leader. And then he heard a familiar voice from behind him. "Ash!"

He turned and saw Brock coming over with Misty. "We were wondering if you were going to make it," Misty said sitting down.

"Yeah," Brock said, taking a seat next to both of them. "We're competing also. And I think it's really cool that one of the gym leaders uses water pokemon. Hey, maybe we'll see each other at the finals. That is if we don't get creamed by someone else."

"You said it Misty," Brock said. "I've been watching some of these trainers and some of them definitely eat, drink, and sleep train their pokemon. But, what's really going to be interesting is that once you have lost your Sacred Seal, then you are taken to the tournament finals and wait to see who won. The winner gets to keep their Sacred Seal as victory, and they also get a special accommodation from the Elite Four on Indigo Plateau, which is the real reason to participate in this tournament. It's supposed to be something big."

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking about strategies and what they had been doing before this, when the Captain got up in front of them all on a raised platform. "Greetings trainers aboard the good ship Paradise," he said in a very strong voice. He sounded pretty young to be the captain of the ship. "Welcome to The Sacred Mountain Championship Tournament." He paused to allow the applause to go on. When the applause died down enough the Captain began again, "The tournament requirements are very clearly stated that you must defeat the eight gym leaders and gain the eight gym badges of the Eden Isles to participate in the finals. You must also have at least two Sacred Seals. Let me explain about the Seals. Each one is equipped with a tracking device that allows us to see where you are and monitor your progress. Your Seals also have a guide to let you know where the next gym, train or boat, or when the final deadline is. Guard them well. We will be docking very soon at Templus City, the beginning and end of your journey. You will all rest the night there at the pokemoncenter and in the morning you will begin your journey. Good luck and good night."

As Ash walked through the dark town with Misty and Brock he couldn't help but feel something was definitely something odd about the Captain, but he put that out of his mind just thinking it was his nerves working him up. When he settled down to finally go to sleep he couldn't, but with a little warmth and reassurance from Pikachu, Ash soon fell asleep.

A/N: Sorry this took so long to get up. I'm not very good at writing pokemon.


	4. Starting Off

Disclaimer: I don't even want to own Pokemon, too much stress.

Chapter 4

Starting Off

Ash woke in the morning and saw that he was one of the first few up. He quickly dressed and went to the main cafeteria and showed his seal to Nurse Joy."Here you go young man," Nurse Joy said cheerfully, handing him a tray. "You'll need your strength too if you want to beat any of the gym leaders on these islands."

"What's so special about them?" Ash asked casually.

Nurse Joy smiled at him. "Well I can't tell you their strategies, but each of them has a specific way of running gym battles. Some let you substitute, others don't. Some have more Pokemon, like James, he has trainers use all six. And others use less, but I believe three is the lowest any gym leader uses. Well, enjoy your breakfast Ash," Nurse Joy said, turning to another contestant.

After about an hour everyone else was up, and Misty and Brock had settled in to have their breakfast with Ash. They were all eating happily when a man in his early twenties walked into the room. Hedidn't seem very special, but he did have a special air about him that silenced all the excited trainers.

"Greetings," he said. "My name is James, and I am the gym leader for the city of Sacred Heights. I would like to expound upon the rules that you have been given so far. The first is there is to be no battling in the streets of the towns or in the Pokemarts. Any such behavior and you will be automatically disqualified, with almost no exceptions." James paused to allow all the trainers to assimilate that fact. "Second, the Sacred Seals are your tickets to battling the gym leaders and to the final match. If you don't have one you don't battle a gym leader and if you don't have two then you don't compete in the final rounds. Even if you should defeat one gym, you will be allowed to keep the badge as a symbol of participation and the usual honor of defeating a gym leader. Third, I am the final gym leader each of you will face. I do not accept challenges from any trainer unless he or she presents to me the other seven badges." James paused again, and looked around the room to show that he meant that. Gary snapped his fingers in frustration.

"Now finally, and this is the most important part. The trainer who wins this tournament will be given a rare Pokemon and will receive permission from the Elite Four themselves to carry around a seventh Pokemon." James stressed the last two words to show everyone what they were really competing for. "Now, good luck to all. When the whistle sounds at eight o'clock, the tournament will begin. You will have three weeks to travel to all the cities, collect the gym badges, and collect the extra Sacred Seal needed to enter the final competition. Until we meet in person." James left the room full of tension as each trainer was watching him leave the room. He had very clearly stated with his body language that he was going to be the hardest gym leader to beat. Ash suddenly remembered that he had trainers use six Pokemon, and wondered which ones James used. But, Ash didn't have time to think about that. All the trainers were going to get their stuff and head for the front doors.

When Ash had finished gathering all his personnal items, and counted out all six of the Pokemon he'd brought with him to start out: Pikachu, Bayleef, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and his two newly acquired Pokemon: Onix and Xatu.

Ash took his place in the crowd of trainers, each with a burning fire in their eyes to win, and waited for the whistle. Officer Jenny moved to where they could all see them and said loudly, "Let's have a good clean tournament," then blew the whistle. Trainers ran as fast as they could to get out of the Pokemoncenter and spread out in different directions. Ash stopped and looked at his Sacred Seal. At the top was a button which when he depressed opened the emblem into a small digital map. He looked at the map and saw that the closest city was Nebla City. "Well Pikachu?" Ash asked. "What do you think? Should we start there?"

Pikachu's enthusiastic reply made Ash smile as he headed toward the nearest bus that would take him to Nebla City. Once aboard he took a look at the few othertrainers that had decided to take the same route as him. None of them looked very seasoned and this lightened Ash's mood a little. "Wait," he said quietly to himself. "They may look like novices but they still are going to compete, which makes them advisaries.

When the bus pulled into Nebla City three hours later, Ash found the gym with little problem. It was an impressively tall building, stretching toward the heavens with ten stories. "Wow," Ash said.

"You like this gym too, huh?"

Ash turned around to see a girl staring up at the building as well. She was cute for a trainer with curly blonde hair and a pretty smile. "What is your name?" she asked him, her blue eyes studying him closely.

"My name is Ash Ketchum," he said. "Who are you?"

"Oh I'm Suzie," she said with a slight giggle. "I'm the youngest gym leader in the Eden Isles. But, if you want you can wait until tomorrow to challenge me."

"No, let's do this," Ash said, his face set and his heartbeat quickening at the thought of a battle.

"I'm sorry, but I can't battle today," Suzie said, a frown replacing her vibrant smile. "I was hoping you would postpone on your own, but if you can come back tomorrow, I'll battle you first thing in the morning."

"Why can't you battle today?" Ash asked.

"My Pidgeot is sick and I don't know what's wrong. Normally I would battle without him, but he's one of my main Pokemon," Suzie said.

"I have a Pidgeot. Maybe I can help you find out what's wrong," Ash said.

"That'd be great," Suzie said. "Come on, let's go." Suzie took off at a run into the gym and Ash followed closely behind her.

A/N: Let me know if I should continue. I don't want to have another story like the Lost Ones where I like it but no one else does.


End file.
